Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
analysis, we determined which factor or node should be linked to which node in the
next layer. Details regarding the design network can be found in [20]. A summary of
the network design employed in the present study is shown below.
Top layer:
The entry nodes for the Bayesian network consist of a culture and a
social relationship node. Culture is connected with Hofstede's dimensions and social
relationship is connected with social characteristics. In the existing study, German and
Japanese cultures have also been included, as well as the two social relationships with
regard to a first meeting and an interaction with a high status individual.
Cultural factors:
The layer relating to
cultural factors defines Hofstede's five
dimensions. As shown in Fig. 1, Hofstede's ratings for each culture have been used
for the probabilities in each node for each culture.
Hofsted's cultural factors were linked to the factors for social relationship, as
culture influences how various individuals behave in different social relationships.
The details regarding the connections for these nodes are provided in [20].
Social relationship factors:
The next layer concerns social relationship criteria.
The probability of each node being affected as a result of cultural factors and social
relationships is set out accordingly. The probability assigned was based on the
cultural factors of Hofsted's dimensions as given in Fig. 1, as well as the data
obtained from the main study regarding interactions in a first meeting scenario
including those with a high status person, which are set out in Table 2.
Posture characteristic factors:
The lowest layer consists of the posture
characteristics. To assign the probability for each node, we took the empirical data
extracted from the main analysis as set out in section 4. For example, for the node
Frequency in the Bayesian network, we calculated probability to be 0.66 in the
German case and 0.34 for Japan, since the posture shift frequency of the German data
(8.075) is 1.75 times that of the Japanese data (4.6).
5.4 Examples of Predicting Postures
When a culture and a social relationship are chosen at the top level as evidence,
posture characteristics are estimated. For example, as shown in Fig. 4, when
German
is
selected as evidence for Culture and
First time Meeting
as evidence for Social
Relationship, the results for spatial extent is large (51%), rigidness
small (51%),
mirroring high (52%), frequency
high (51%), and duration short (51%).
As shown in Fig 5, by retaining
German
as an evidence for culture and selecting
Higher Status
as evidence for Social Relationship, the results for spatial extent are
small (51%), rigidness extreme (52%), mirroring small (79%), frequency low (52%),
and duration long (51%). Note that the posture of the German subject in Fig 4 is
changed to one that is smaller and more rigid in Fig 5 when interaction takes place
with someone of a higher status.
